Briefing Paper 559 – The People Shall Govern: The Slow Road to Electoral Reform by Mike Pothier
South Africa’s first democratic national and pro- vincial elections in 1994 were held under a pure proportional representation system in terms of which political parties were awarded seats in direct proportion to the share of the vote they managed to secure. This was regarded as the only fair and reliable way of gauging the strength of those political movements that had hitherto been excluded from electoral politics. It would also ensure that smaller political groupings, such as those representing linguistic, ethnic, regional or religious interests, which might not win a seat in any single geographical constituency, had a chance to attract sufficient votes across the country, or in a province, to earn representation in the respective legislatures.
BP 559 – The People Shall Govern – The Slow Road to Electoral Reform by Mike Pothier